Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed said today that Bank of Maldives (BML) has confirmed there will no longer be any obstacles to conducting online transactions.
Speaking at a press conference held at the President's Office, Saeed noted that the difficulties previously faced in online shopping via BML due to the dollar shortage have been resolved, and such issues are not expected to recur in the future.
"There were some challenges in online shopping and the e-commerce sector related to the dollar issue. BML has managed the situation extensively, following the various constraints they faced regarding foreign exchange. However, the bank has now informed us that, God willing, those issues will no longer persist," the Minister said.
Saeed further noted that efforts are well underway to restore BML’s services for processing Telegraphic Transfers (TTs) and issuing dollars to their previous capacity.
"They are working very rapidly to return to the previous status quo regarding the processing of TTs and the issuance of foreign currency. God willing, that situation is now improving," Saeed added.
Attributing the national dollar shortage to the requirement of settling $1.4 billion in debt, Saeed highlighted that this represents an unprecedented debt repayment obligation for any Maldivian government to date.
BML had previously announced on September 19 that issues regarding dollar transfers and TT services would be resolved within a week. However, businesses have since reported that the situation remained unchanged following that announcement.
BML only acknowledged the difficulties in processing dollar transfers and TTs after several months of persistent issues.
Due to the foreign exchange crunch, the bank has further tightened limits on debit and credit card transactions. Currently, the total daily limit for such transactions across the entire country is capped at $16 million.
